According to an Urdu-language daily, Shi'ite and Sunni Islamic scholars of Pakistan, while calling to prevent war, have criticized American threats against Iran in the wake of the assassination of Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.
"On the one hand, America itself is begging the Taliban for peace and escape [for its soldiers from Afghanistan], while on the other hand, it is issuing threats against Iran when Iran is a nuclear power. The sectarian divide among Muslims is the enemy's conspiracy," a report by Roznama Ummat quoted Shi'ite and Sunni Islamic scholars as saying.
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In the report, Islamic scholar Mufti Kifayatullah of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam said: "America has made a mistake by targeting Iran's commander [Qassem Soleimani]. America spreads terrorism in the whole world. The Pakistani government should use its diplomatic relations and try for expediency."
Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri, the General Secretary of the Shi'ite group Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen Pakistan, criticized Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's statement that Pakistan will not be a party to the U.S.-Iran conflict in the Middle East, declaring it as the Pakistani government's "cowardice, and counter to national honor."
Muhammad Hussain Mehnati, the emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan for Sindh province and former lawmaker, said: "Imperial powers want to achieve their despicable objectives by dividing the ummah [Islamic nation] by regionalism [territory-based divisions] and sectarianism [like the Sunni-Shi'ite schism]. We will have to destroy all the conspiracies of enemies..."
According to the report, Liaqat Baloch, the deputy emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, said that 35 religious organizations united under the banner of Milli Yekjahti Council will hold a meeting in Lahore where they will decide on a strategy to deal with "new threats to Islam."
Source: Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), January 8, 2020.
